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I was talking to my daughter about sort of a tangential issue the other day. I want to say it's related because some of these "better" technologies get pushed

I was talking to my daughter about sort of a tangential issue the other day. I want to say it's related because some of these "better" technologies get pushed onto public schools. Some idiot in her class had managed to completely disable (destroy?) a Smart Board by throwing some tiny object and striking it. I have to admit that I don't actually know exactly what a Smart Board is or exactly what its capabilities are, but I get the impression that the replacement cost of such a device is multiple orders of magnitude greater than that of a simpler device, the Overhead Projector, so common in classrooms thirty years ago. And I have to ask the question, is the educational value multiple orders of magnitude greater? Also consider that you don't need a degree in electrical engineering (and other domain/manufacturer specific knowledge) to understand how the mirrors and light bulbs make the older device function, and to repair it. I fear this attitude comes off as crotchety old man get-off-my-lawn a little bit, but I think if we take a step back and make objective comparisons we might find that we've been had by the marketing department quite a few times in recent years. And I just hate to see public schools (which I think are so desperately important, and don't have the disposable cash) taken advantage of by the marketing departments with budgets larger than the engineering department of their firm. I would be dismayed to see my kids' schools investing into VR/AR any time soon, but I could see it happening.

dylan604 3y ago
I find this similar to those note taking apps. Everyone assumes having notes stored digitally will be more useful by allowing search, sharing between devices/friends, or any of the other propaganda used. However, they all miss the crucial bit of taking notes is that the act of writing the note is the key in helping retain the information. Can't get much cheaper than a pencil and paper, but yet we keep trying and failing.
- BeFlatXIII 3y ago
  95% of technology in the classroom initiatives are pure grift. Ever notice how it's usually the struggling districts that are most willing to go all-in on them?
  - dylan604 3y ago
    or the GenZers with an app
_urvc 3y ago
When I was in high school, they installed the first generation of smart boards. The resolution and quality of pen input was quite mediocre. But it solved an actual severe problem for teachers and students. Back then we used sponges to clean boards but this can lead over long period of time to skin diseases. Furthermore, the sound of chalk on a board was torture. An alternative would have been those smooth boards but they get really hard to clean over time and pens seem to be always empty. Lastly, you actually get to the material from previous lessons and can even upload them. I think those smart board need to be iterated on more. If displays are to difficult to repair, maybe e-ink paper might be an option in the future.
mrguyorama 3y ago
SmartBoards were actually awesome! The issue is that most teachers disliked them because they didn't know how to utilize them, didn't want to learn something new (a lot of teachers are like 50 years old) and basically had the old man shouting at clouds "damn these newfangled computery thingies", or genuinely had no good use for them: My mom was a French teacher at the time, and being able to get pen input to her laptop from a whiteboard wasn't exactly a useful tool for her.
simonklitj 3y ago
My teacher would send everything he wrote on the smart board as a PDF after class. This was effortless for him either the smart board. Now sure, for projecting a presentation, there’s no major difference. But I think it’s trying to combine blackboards and projectors, and in this case, it did (at least for me) make some things easier. Is it 30x better at educating than the overhead? No. But I don’t think it has to be to be worthwhile.

dylan604 3y ago

I find this similar to those note taking apps. Everyone assumes having notes stored digitally will be more useful by allowing search, sharing between devices/friends, or any of the other propaganda used. However, they all miss the crucial bit of taking notes is that the act of writing the note is the key in helping retain the information. Can't get much cheaper than a pencil and paper, but yet we keep trying and failing.

BeFlatXIII 3y ago
95% of technology in the classroom initiatives are pure grift. Ever notice how it's usually the struggling districts that are most willing to go all-in on them?
- dylan604 3y ago
  or the GenZers with an app

_urvc 3y ago

When I was in high school, they installed the first generation of smart boards. The resolution and quality of pen input was quite mediocre. But it solved an actual severe problem for teachers and students. Back then we used sponges to clean boards but this can lead over long period of time to skin diseases. Furthermore, the sound of chalk on a board was torture. An alternative would have been those smooth boards but they get really hard to clean over time and pens seem to be always empty. Lastly, you actually get to the material from previous lessons and can even upload them. I think those smart board need to be iterated on more. If displays are to difficult to repair, maybe e-ink paper might be an option in the future.

mrguyorama 3y ago

SmartBoards were actually awesome! The issue is that most teachers disliked them because they didn't know how to utilize them, didn't want to learn something new (a lot of teachers are like 50 years old) and basically had the old man shouting at clouds "damn these newfangled computery thingies", or genuinely had no good use for them: My mom was a French teacher at the time, and being able to get pen input to her laptop from a whiteboard wasn't exactly a useful tool for her.

simonklitj 3y ago

My teacher would send everything he wrote on the smart board as a PDF after class. This was effortless for him either the smart board. Now sure, for projecting a presentation, there’s no major difference. But I think it’s trying to combine blackboards and projectors, and in this case, it did (at least for me) make some things easier. Is it 30x better at educating than the overhead? No. But I don’t think it has to be to be worthwhile.